Sisters
by SteveElOtaku
Summary: TMNT 2012 continuity. Spoilers for Season 2. April O'Neil is having a bad night, and an unexpected friend drops in to show her how to have a little fun.


It was a tired night in the Big Apple, and it grated on April O'Neil's nerves.

The wind idly fluttered the pages of her trigonometry textbook as it came through the window. Every moment she half expected to see a green, smiling face at the window, and she dreaded it.

_Stupid turtles…_ she thought, frustrated. _I don't ever want to see them again. Every time I pass by the pet shop on the way to school I can't help but think of what happened to my dad. They just let him turn into a mutant freak! I can't believe it! After all we've been through! They couldn't be a little more careful!_

She felt her eyes water but fought it back. It didn't stop her eyes from feeling heavy. The math in the book became a blur to her. Isosceles triangles just didn't seem like such a big deal when your dad was a big mutant bat monster.

Then she remembered she was tutoring Casey Jones the following night.

_Terrific, _she thought. _Well, at least he's not a turtle…just an obnoxious meathead jock with all the subtlety of a garbage truck. _

_He's kinda cute…_

_Stop it!_ April mentally screamed at herself. _I am not crushing on Casey Jones! I don't care if he's human or not! He's stubborn, insensitive, and so full of himself!_

She returned to her textbook, yawning as it asked her to solve for a value of "x" and figure out missing angles. April had been doing poorly prior to a remedial class, but was now proficient enough to tutor it.

It didn't mean she didn't find it more boring than watching paint dry.

She thought back to a few nights ago, when that giant mutant creature had attacked her and Casey. April had a strong stomach, but watching a bunch of disembodied organs talking was slightly traumatizing, no matter who you were. Especially if said organs were trying to kidnap or possibly kill you. At least she'd had her _tessen _with her…which Master Splinter had given her…

Once again, she thought about the turtles.

"I hate those turtles!" She exclaimed in frustration, tossing the book across the room. "Everything in my life is turtles, turtles, turtles! Turtles and rats! Big, green, talking turtles and giant half-human rats! When did my life go utterly Saturday morning cartoon bonkers?!"

Her ranting was interrupted by snickering.

"Sounds like someone's got pest control problems." The voice laughed from the window.

April yelped in surprise.

Lying in her windowsill, legs up as if posing for a model shoot was Karai.

"What are you doing here?!" April exclaimed, instinctively reaching for her _tessen._

"Easy, girl. I wouldn't want to have to put a shuriken through that pretty little hand of yours. I only came to talk."

As much as April was angry with the turtles, Karai set her off just as badly. After all, she was a Foot kunoichi—and she wanted the turtles dead, as far as she knew. April wasn't angry enough to want to see the turtles die, and she knew it.

"What do you and I have to talk about?" April asked, trying to remain cool and indifferent.

"Don't act tough, April. You might be able to make poor little geeky Donnie melt, but I'm way tougher than you. And I don't melt so easily."

"Yeah, you've got a heart temperature of absolute zero. Does Shredder have to carve the frost off it when it grows too thick?"

Karai narrowed her eyes.

"Ouch, I'm hurt." She said, her voice just as mocking as before. "What are you going to do now? Tell me my fashion sense is out of date? Send me catty texts? Smudge my makeup?"

April folded her arms and pouted.

"Does your turtle boyfriend kiss you like that?"

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM SO MUCH!"

"What, did he lay eggs in your bed or something? My dad's got a real hate-on going for him and his brothers so if you wanna tell me…"

April sighed.

"I don't hate him that much and I'm not going to betray him…at least you have a dad…"

She began to tear up.

"I hate them…I h-hate them…stupid mutants…stupid mutagen…now I'll never see my dad again…"

Karai's mouth dropped open slightly.

"Um…April? What…happened to your dad? If you don't mind me asking…"

"They-they spilled mutagen on him and now he's a g-giant b-b-bat and now I'll n-n-never see him again…"

April burst into tears. Tears flowed from her eyes with no sign of stopping any time soon. She pulled her knees up to her chest, desperate to protect herself.

Karai hesitantly walked over to April's bed, flipping and landing on the bed beside her. She extended one gloved hand and put it on April's shoulder.

The warrior in Karai's mind thought: _That explains all the Foot who keep getting dropped off rooftops lately and who complain about a "bat-man" attacking them._

But the humanity in her saw April crying…and felt a tiny bit of her own loneliness in her.

For a while neither of them said anything. The words just weren't coming. New York was fairly quiet as well, with only the whisper of taxi cabs on the city streets mixing with distant sirens.

Only Karai dared to speak up.

"April? I…I honestly don't know what to say…I couldn't bear losing my father. Even if he isn't always very affectionate, or…you know, around much …at least he's there for me."

She sighed.

"I'm not making anything better, am I? I should probably just shut up…"

Karai instinctively flinched when she felt a hand on her own, but stopped when she realized whose it was.

"No…Karai…I never thought I'd be saying this…but it's nice to have someone to talk to."

"So what now? It's not like I have anything to do tonight. What would cheer you up?"

"Anything except going for pizza." April sighed with a slight smile on her lips.

Karai smirked, and soon the two girls were chatting up a storm.

"So, uh, Karai…how do you get your makeup looking so good? I'm pretty hopeless, honestly."

"You totally don't use much makeup, do you? A pity. You'd look really good. Want me to give you a makeover?"

"Uh…sure!"

April got out her own makeup, most of which she'd never used.

"You've got this much and you don't use it?" Karai asked incredulously.

"It was a gift, but I guess I always felt kinda self-conscious about it?"

"You felt self-conscious in _New York_?!"

"Yeah, uh…wouldn't you?"

"This city is full of ninja, mascots, Michael Jackson impersonators, mutants, drag queens, and senators. The world isn't going to end over a little eyeshadow, April."

April cringed a little at hearing the word _mutants _but she didn't let it faze her outwardly.

Karai took a black eyeliner pen and began to gently work. With a smooth stroke, like that of a calligrapher, she put a thin black line underneath each of April's eyes.

"Don't move so much, April. You act like no one's ever been up in your face before."

Deftly, she completed the strokes, finishing off around the base of her eyelashes.

"Need a mirror?" Karai asked.

April nodded.

Karai took a mirror from beside April's bed, and handed it to her. A smirk crept across her face as she saw April admiring herself.

"I didn't do badly, did I?" Karai laughed.

"Karai…this looks great! Thank you so much!"

"Oh, that's just the beginning. I'm thinking just the tiniest bit of eye shadow—not too much, you don't want to look like a raccoon. I'm thinking this shade of blue. It'll really bring out your eyes."

A few minutes with a sponge later, and April's eyes seemed to be surrounded by tiny blue embers of shadow.

"Don't know when I last had this much fun without hurting someone," Karai laughed, settling into a relaxed but undeniably disciplined pose.

April smiled a little.

"I don't know when I last got to spend some quiet time with a human being…that's pretty sad, huh?"

Both girls laughed.

"Hey, uh, Karai? What's your dad like? If you don't mind me asking."

Karai shrugged and sighed.

"He's all business, pretty much. I mean, sure, he loves me; at least, I think he does. But we never do anything other than spar, train, or go out on missions. I think he had tea with me once. He's so much more a master than he is a dad."

April nodded.

"My dad was a scientist, but…the Kraang wanted him, and well…I'd better stop talking before I ruin the nice job you did with my face."

The awkward silence that ensued was broken by muffled rap music playing.

"Is that…Vanilla Ice?" Karai asked, bewildered.

"Oh, huh? That's my phone…it's the ringtone I use for Casey Jones, he's annoying…Oh crud! I forgot! I'd moved my tutoring with him to tonight!"

Karai smirked.

"Oooh, so you've got a normal boyfriend now? This I have to see…."

"Quick, Karai, hide! I'll go meet him…"

April answered her phone, and within a few minutes, she was walking out of the house with Casey in tow.

"Wow, April! Did you get a makeover just for me? You look stunning!" Casey said, grinning from ear to ear.

April sighed.

"Why don't you hit the books before I hit you? "She said, passing over the trigonometry textbook.

Meanwhile, Karai, watching from a nearby rooftop, laughed quietly to herself.

"Atta girl."

Karai watched April and Casey go through their paces, alternating between moments of intense studying, intense flirtation (not that April would _ever _admit it), and intense attempts by April to keep Casey from getting too close.

After the tutoring session ended and Casey was at a safe distance away, Karai flipped down from the roof in front of April.

"Nice work, April. Gotta say—he's pretty cute. He looks like a real bad boy, but I can tell his heart's just not in it. He's soft. Crunchy with a cream filling, know what I'm saying?"

April laughed.

"If you like him so much, why don't you ask him out?"

Karai put her hands on her hips.

"I've got a score to settle with someone with a harder shell, April. But not tonight. Listen, if you ever want to do this again…just say hi. I might drop in from time to time. Who knows? Maybe we could be like sisters."

April turned to say something, but Karai was already gone, leaving only a kunai with a note attached.

_You're not the only kunoichi in New York.—Karai._

With a smile, she pocketed the kunai and walked through the front door.

There really was no place like home.


End file.
